A secretary sacked following a breakup with her boss’s son – a company director in the family firm where she worked – is to be paid nearly €22,000 after the Workplace Relations Commission ruled her dismissal unfair.

The employment tribunal found there had been a “sharp deficit in the duty of care” on the part of the firm and that the worker, who had been employed by the firm for over a decade, “deserved better”.

Rosemarie Quinlan’s claim under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Spencer Family Holdings Limited was upheld in a decision published by the Workplace Relations Commission this morning.

Ms ….read more

A finance manager at Irish Rail says his duties were “hacked down to nothing” after he made a protected disclosure nine years ago – and that he now spends most of his working week in a €121,000-a-year job reading newspapers, eating sandwiches and going for long walks.

“I’d say if I got something that requires me to do work once in a week I’d be thrilled,” he told the Workplace Relations Commission yesterday.

Dermot Alastair Mills was giving evidence in a hearing into his complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 alleging that he was subjected to penalisation as a whistleblower after ….read more

A technical training company has been ordered to pay a former lecturer nearly €90,000 after she was sexually harassed in a classroom in the presence of her students by another instructor employed by the firm.

The Workplace Relations Commission found Socrates Workforce Solutions Ltd vicariously liable for the harassment and sexual harassment of Kathleen Ryan by a colleague at a state training centre in the midlands on 27 April 2021.

The “flawed” investigation which followed left Ms Ryan “confused” and the perpetrator – named only as ‘Mr A’ in a decision published this morning – feeling as though he had been “vindicated”, ….read more

A worker who said his bosses at a Co Cork distillery “kept stringing him along” with promises that he would be appointed to a graduate job while he worked on its bottling line has won his case for constructive dismissal.

A Workplace Relations Commission adjudicating officer came down in the worker’s favour after finding that three company directors “each gave a different version” of the complainant’s employment and their interactions with him.

In his complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, Bryan Murphy told the Workplace Relations Commission he had been recruited for a marketing job at West Cork Distillers in September ….read more

A group of seven managers and assistant managers at Paddy Power betting shops who said they were blocked from working overtime have lost their pay claims against the firm.

The workers, represented by trade union Mandate, had lodged complaints under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against Flutter Entertainment PLC.

The staff, who each have between 14 and 22 years’ service with the bookies, work at shops in north and west Dublin as well as Ashbourne, Co Meath as managers or assistant managers.

They each said they had routinely worked overtime hours before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and lost out on this when ….read more

A social media firm should pay €30,000 to a human resources officer who was “traumatised” after being sacked while on probation, the Workplace Relations Commission has advised.

The official in charge of the case said that by failing to offer a right of appeal to a probationary employee, the firm had failed to provide fair procedures.

He added that he found the worker “so traumatised she cannot represent what happened to her at an oral hearing”.

As the worker’s complaint was lodged under the Industrial Relations Act, the hearing last month was convened in private, and the parties were anonymised ….read more

Children’s gaming company and app publisher Zulleon has been ordered to pay a games developer close to €11,000 for unlawful deductions from his pay imposed when the pandemic hit.

In a decision released this morning, the Workplace Relations Commission found that the publisher had made “misleading representations” that it would pay staff back for a 25% pay cut it imposed when the Covid-19 pandemic reached Ireland.

The finding was reached in respect of one of two complaints made under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against Zulleon Ltd by former employee Eoin Roche, both of which were upheld.

Mr Roche told the ….read more

A cleaner has secured €7,000 in compensation from her former employer along with orders for the payment of unpaid wages, holidays and compensation for further breaches of employment law when she was left without work after her maternity leave.

The Workplace Relations Commission heard the worker taken on to cover her leave was hired directly by a client of her employer for the same work.

Her employer Michael Naughton, trading as Eco-swift Environmental Services, maintained this meant there was “no position to return to”.

But the tribunal found there had been a “clear” breach of Dawn O’Brien’s rights and upheld her claim under ….read more

A dispute between the Spiritan-run Templeogue College and two of its longest-serving teachers, who had taken victimisation claims against the Dublin secondary school, has been resolved.

The deal follows robust exchanges by barristers at a hearing on Wednesday, which ended with the first adjudicating officer assigned to the case saying she was left with “no option” but to recuse herself.

The teachers, Patricia O’Connell and Bríd Stack, had complained to the WRC under the Employment Equality Act alleging they were subjected to exclusionary treatment by the senior management team at the school because they made complaints of ageist discrimination.

“I’m delighted to ….read more

(File Picture: Mr Peter Casey. Photo: Collins)

The conduct of a sacked employee of the recruitment firm founded by ex-Presidential candidate Peter Casey was found to be so “deplorable” that the Workplace Relations Commission could only award the worker €250 for unfair dismissal.

The tribunal has upheld a complaint by recruitment consultant Michael O’Sullivan under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Claddagh Resources in a decision published this morning.

Mr O’Sullivan had claimed he had been set “unrealistic targets” after being put on a performance improvement plan.

He said he was then “fired on the spot” by Peter Casey during an appraisal meeting – ….read more